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Month: August 2016

I recently read an article about how the the hardcore punk concerts would change the mindsets of the people who attended. I have never read about such hardcore things going on in a concert, and such sexual acts going on. Their was this part about the band that opened for Green Day concerts early on, I think they were called something like the Pansy Daisies. What they did at their concerts was very interesting to me, and they were one of the first of their kind that has actually become somewhat of a movement today. I think they made a point to push homosexuality so much in front of people so that those that were homophobic started to understand it a little more. I’m blanking on the word, but its like when you see something so often, it doesn’t bother you anymore, you become numb to it. I think that is what these punk rockers want. I also enjoyed the part about Hanna, one of the punk rocker chicks who seemed to be all about woman power, “several girls at the front, in the very small pit, being shoved by boys. Hanna stopped the show, and refused to continue until the rest of the audience stopped these guys from misbehaving.” She seemed to completely be all about standing up for the women, and showing men that in this day and age, women have a voice, and they aren’t going to tolerate the misogyny in the world any more.

I recently read a very interesting article that dived into the long lasting battle between punk music, and large corporations. This article discussing the sensation that punk style and music had on the population of people at the time. It also discusses the idea of the corporatizing of the people and the role money has in lives, no matter what. Punk music began as a deviant path that people who felt like the rejects of society went down. At first, the thought many had about this people was “ooh look at them crazy people, they’re disgusting.” “As the use of the term ‘folk devil’ suggests, rather too much weight tends to be given to the sensational excesses of the tabloid press at the expense of the ambiguous reactions which are, after all, more typical” (Hebdidge).

Dedicating your life to your passion of performance art is actually a very difficult career or even just niche to get noticed in today’s world. Especially in many of the first world countries, which the expansion of technology, different forms of entertainment is taking place. Many people get their daily fixes for entertainment when watching TV, surfing the internet, and playing video games. Compared to times past, entertainment has changed forms, and performing artists are not getting nearly the recognition that they once got hundreds of years ago.

During the times before there were screens that played films, many people would spend their evenings enjoying a show of some sorts, from plays, to musical shows. There are still people who attend these kind of events, but it is much more rare than it once was. For the comedians, the play actors and actresses, it is much more exclusive than it once was to get noticed. People who attend these kind of events are usually a certain kind of person, and not everything has as massive of an audience as before due to the way this economy works, the type of schedules people have, among many other factors.

Many schools today, because of this made up nonsense that the U.S. “needs to balance the budget so lets cut education,” are now cutting many school programs in an effort to orderly pack children into the classroom and get them used to sitting and working for their lives. My anger revolving this issue stems from the belief, and the studies that say school programs, like theater, music, drawing, painting, ceramics, singing, among others are very instrumental to the building of children’s plastic-like brain. The information as well as the creativity that children gain in their developmental years until they reach adulthood will likely be traits that they carry for the rest of their lives. Those that are prevented from having the ability to participate in these programs are losing out on their creativity and are being forced to conform with the rest of students where no children stand out any longer.

Art program budgets are being constrained and it is estimated that every year, nearly 25% of public high schools will dismantle a number of these programs completely. Studies all over show that there is such benefit to being able to integrate art into education, and those that do not learn how to be creative, also face a difficult time grasping core problems later on in life.

I discussed this problem with a buddy who has began taking creative classes after his busy work schedule. He told me that the schools he went to were always abandoning their fine arts programs before he had the chance to learn them. Luckily, he know has his own business, www.hbcarpetclean.com, and now he has the time to fund these classes that he takes at Sonoma State college in Northern California. Sonoma State is well known for being a creatively thinking university, and I walked into a theater class to check out some of the hype. Listening to the lines that many of the actors had ust begun memorizing and the way they were able to put their emotion into their performances definitely made it seem as if their intelligence were far superior than your normal stranger. And following this night, I did some research to see if I could prove my point, low and behold, it was pretty easy. Continue reading

There are a multitude of different ways to find entertainment in this world, especially recently as we have fully become involved in this technological age where entertainment is practically the easiest thing to find.

Since I have grown up before the time where TV was the coolest thing to do and the time when people began spending days of their week playing video games, I was going to concerts, plays, and seeing choreographed dance routines. I was a fan of the skill necessary it took to provide me with adequate entertainment value, and I had always admired the abilities of many of the different genres of performing artists.

After becoming fed up with the lifestyle of watching TV and going to work a job day in and day out, I felt the urge to go on a vacation and treat myself to a time of exploring the countries greatest performing art places. These travels led me to a couple different locations on the west coast, including Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Portland.

My first stop at Portland, I spent the weekend attending various shows around the city, and they all seemed to be quite exquisitely prepared. The Portland shows seemed to draw upper class people especially. Since there was so much to entertain yourself in this city, the people who attended plays were certainly a special kind of people. They were the people that were used to being waited on, and have a valet park their car. I gotta say, it was nice to be treated to that kind of level of luxury. Also, Portland’s public transportation is awesome, and for many of the shows that I did not feel like driving too, it was very simple to plan my route to wherever I wanted to go. They had Lightrails, busses, taxis, bikes, all with the ability to go along the many cools designed roads made up of stamped concrete. Many of Portland’s roads are filled with all different types of people utilizing various ways of transportation, and that included me doing a lot of walking. There are all kinds of people taking advantage of these systems that no doubt improved the city.

The plays were certainly fantastic. I actually knew a couple people in the plays that I attended, and that made it even more of a special experience to enjoy. Having only been to Portland once before in my life, the performing art scene is surely up and coming compared to many other cities, and I think that just has to do with the progressive kind of people living throughout their city. Continue reading

When my friends and I attended the Frankenstein play, we were fresh off seeing the play, the Christmas Caroland we had high hopes for the production of Frankenstein, and we were not disappointed. To say it was an astounding production is a vast understatement. The acting, the lighting, and the set were quite impressive compared to other productions of plays that I have seen in my time.

The play begins with the creature being born and he tries to learn how to move and struggles to get to his feet. The creature then begins to move around and meet some people. But as he gets close enough to people and they see what he looks like, they are scared of him and they run away in fear. In this scene, he learns to eat and learns that fire is hot. He is seemingly a fast learner.

I didn’t know what to expect on this production. I had high hopes knowing that this was a very popular play to see each year around Christmas time . The show began with a song piece sung by all the play characters singing about a known man in town. Before the audience met the main character, Ebenezer Scrooge, they found out that the Scrooge was a grumpy old cat who hated the holidays. He obviously was not a man who was in the Christmas Spirit, and once he came onto the stage he let everyone know this.

Characters would continuously question the Scrooge on why he hates Christmas so much and he would always respond with a snooty remark to them. He did not have much as much merriness in the holiday season. By saying that line over and over again it let the audience know he was missing the “merry” or “joy” in the Christmas holiday that the rest of the townspeople were all wrapped up in.

Everyone who personally knew Scrooge knew not to mess with him around Christmas time, they all hoped he would enjoy the holidays with them. His little nephew even wanted to have Scrooge over for dinner, but he wasn’t sure if mean old Scrooge would go. Scrooge is home alone on Christmas Eve and seems to be content with himself. In the middle of the night, a ghost with chains wakes Scrooge up and tells him that there will be three more ghosts that would soon visit him that night. The ghosts of Christmas past, ghost of Christmas present, and Christmas future.Continue reading

After listening to both of these artists play a few songs, there definitely are some distinct differences in the structures and the skills levels of Pat Metheny versus Kenny G. Pat Metheny is obviously the better instrumentalist in most of his songs compared to Kenny G’s playing abilities. Kenny G’s style seems to be to construct sounds that the ear enjoys listening to and is more of a relaxed, fun playing style. Pat Metheny seems to show his skill of playing the guitar often. I believe he feels entitled to the success that he has had because he is able to prove his skill level to people in his playing, and they seem to respect his abilities. To get an insight into the feud, click here.

Pat Metheny’s sense of entitlement although leads to some anger issues he has with other artists, in particular Kenny G. Pat Metheny does not believe Kenny G deserves the respect and the fortune he has received from the paying customers because he does not have the skill level that some of the other professional Jazz musicians have earned. Pat Metheny is primarily angry with Kenny G thinking he can break unspoken Jazz rules. He is particularly angered by the fact the Kenny G dubbed himself playing saxophone over one of Louis Armstrong’s songs. Louis Armstrong is one of the men who propelled their kind of music in the limelight. Pat Metheny feels Kenny G is okay with using somebody else’s very popular song, and play over it (and yes it was very poorly), and earn a profit and popularity over it. Metheny feels this was cheap shot at a dead man and the whole Jazz industry.Continue reading

The movie Shut up and Sing was able to light a fire in my heart and feel for the girls in the band. This documentary followed the three members of the “Dixie Chicks” band, and the controversy that has followed the band over the years. The plot was guided by an uproar following a comment Natalie Maines (the lead singer of the Dixie Chicks), that was stated due some disagreements with President Bush at the time.

During this time in the American History, George Bush was in his first term as president. As the leader during the time of the 9/11 tower attacks President Bush had a quite a backing with him. After it was discovered that the Iraqi’s possibly had weapons of mass destruction on their land (they did not, it was a lie created to go to war), Bush decided it was best for him to send the American troops to war with the Iraqis. As with almost any war, there are backers and there are protesters.Continue reading